Monday, July 27, 2009

‘ Been knitting….

but not on the socks shown previously. I have put them aside for now. For some reason, I wanted to try something new. I think I’m going to try to do some lace. To get an idea of what lace is all about (and at the recommendation of helpful lace-knitting Ravelers) I tried a few small projects. The first was out of some Peaches n Creme cotton that I had on hand. I took the Old Shale scarf pattern and did several rows. I figured that since it was cotton, no matter how wrong I went, we could always use it for a dishcloth. The basic pattern for Old Shale is simple, easily memorized so you don’t have to read every stitch. That’s good, especially for someone that is new to chart reading. I fund that I really enjoyed doing it, although it required a bit of attention. The wavy ridges with shades of pink running through it is the Old Shale.

Then, just to do something quick and easy, something to do while watching TV I did a dishcloth in Sugar and Cream, the pattern is a easily found on the internet, “Grandmothers Favorite Dishcloth” or something like that.

From there, I went back to another lace project. This one in wool (which is so much nicer on my hands, it gives!) that was leftover from my grandson’s hat. I made the Twig Lace Cap that is a free pattern on the Knit Picks site. I really enjoyed doing the first half of the project. As I reached the decreases I had to switch to dpns, and when juggling 4 dpns and cable needles…..well, that wasn’t as much fun. I’m very awkward with cable needles. I’m sure I distorted the last few rows with my too long dpns, too. This needs to be blocked, which I haven’t done yet. I’m told that washing a bit and blocking will make the stitching more even. I can see a few mistakes, but in general, I’m pleased. It was a learning project, after all, not an heirloom. I did my first lifeline, but need to study up on a better method for inserting one. My granddaughter posed so I could get a picture of the cap.